REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
APPOINTMENT OF DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT AGENCY FOR EMPLOYEES AND PENSIONERS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MADHYA PRADESH
Issued by:
Commissioner
Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund & Insurance
Madhya Pradesh
26 Kinas Bhawan, Area Hills,
BHOPAL (MP) 462 004
CONTENTS
PART –I
1. / Section 1. Letter of Invitation / 3
2. / Section 2. Instructions to Vendors / 4-15
Part-II. Data Sheet / 16-19
3. / Section 3. Technical Proposal- Forms / 20-32
4. / Section 4. Financial Proposal –Forms / 33-38
5. / Section 5. Scope of Work / 39-49
6. / Section 6. Forms of Contract / 50-74
7. / Appendices / 75-78
Part-I
Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund & Insurance, Madhya Pradesh Bhopal
Ref. No:326/DPPFI/08 Bhopal, Dated 18 Dec, 2008
Section 1- Letter of Invitation
Title of Services: Appointment of data collection and management agency for employees and pensioners of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
To,
______
______
______
Dear Mr. / Ms.
1. The Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund & Insurance, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal (hereinafter called “Employer”) is a Nodal Office of the Government of Madhya Pradesh for managing Pension, Provident Fund and Insurance related matters relating to the present and past employees of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
2. The employer has invited proposals for the captioned services. More details on the services are provided in the Terms of Reference in this RFP document.
3. A firm will be selected under Cost Evaluation under Combined Quality cum Cost Based System (CQCBS) Method and procedures described in this RFP.
4. The RFP includes the following documents:
Section 1 - Letter of Invitation
Section 2 - Information to Vendors (including Data Sheet)
Section 3 - Technical Proposal - Forms
Section 4 - Financial Proposal - Forms
Section 5 - Terms of Reference
Section 6 - Forms of Contract
Sd/-
(Anuradha Mukhedkar)
Commissioner
Pension, Provident Fund & Insurance
Section 2
Instructions to Vendors
Part I
1. Definitions
(a) “Employer” means the Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund & Insurance, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal who have invited the bids for consultancy services and with which the selected Vendor signs the Contract for the Services and to which the selected Vendor shall provide services as per the terms and conditions and TOR of the contract.
(b) “Vendor” means any entity or person or associations of person who is willing to submit their proposals that may provide or provides the Services to the Employer under the Contract.
(c) “Contract” means the Contract signed by the Parties and all the attached documents listed in its Clause 1, that is the General Conditions (GC), the project Specific Conditions (SC), and the Appendices.
(d) “Project specific information” means such part of the Instructions to Vendors used to reflect specific project and assignment conditions.
(e) “Day” means calendar day.
(f) “Government” means the Government of Madhya Pradesh
(g) “Instructions to Vendors” (Section 2 of the RFP) means the document which provides Vendors with all information needed to prepare their proposals.
(h) “Personnel” means professionals and support staff provided by the Vendor or by any Sub-Vendor and assigned to perform the Services or any part thereof; “Foreign Personnel” means such professionals and support staff who at the time of being so provided had their domicile outside the Government’s country; “Domestic Personnel” means such professionals and support staff who at the time of being so provided had their domicile in India.
(i) “Proposal” means the Technical Proposal and the Financial Proposal.
(j) “RFP” means the Request for Proposal prepared by the Employer for the selection of Vendors.
(k) “Assignment / job” means the work to be performed by the Vendor pursuant to the Contract.
(l) “Sub-Vendor” means any person or entity with whom the Vendor subcontracts any part of the Assignment/job.
(m) “Terms of Reference” (TOR) means the document included in the RFP as Section 5 which explains the objectives, scope of work, activities, tasks to be performed, respective responsibilities of the Employer and the Vendor, and expected results and deliverables of the Assignment/job.
2. Introduction
2.1 The Employer named in the Part II Data Sheet will select a consulting firm/organization (the Vendor) from those to whom the LOI has been addressed, in accordance with the method of selection specified in the Part II Data Sheet.
2.2 The name of the assignment/Job has been mentioned in Part II Data Sheet. Detailed scope of the assignment/ job has been described in the Terms of Reference in Section 5.
2.3 The date, time and address for submission of the proposal have been given in Part II Data Sheet.
2.4 The Vendors are invited to submit their Proposal, for consulting Assignment/job named in the Part II Data Sheet. The Proposal will be the basis for contract negotiations and ultimately for a signed Contract with the selected Vendor.
2.5 Vendors should familiarize themselves with Local conditions and take them into account in preparing their Proposals. To obtain first-hand information on the Assignment/job and Local conditions, Vendors are encouraged to attend a pre-proposal meeting and seek clarifications. Attending the pre-proposal meeting is optional.
2.6 The Employer will provide at no cost to the Vendors the inputs and facilities specified in the Part II Data Sheet, assist the Vendors in interacting with relevant stakeholders needed to carry out the Assignment/job, and make available relevant project data and reports.
2.7 Vendors shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of their proposals and contract negotiation. The Employer is not bound to accept any proposal, and reserves the right to annul the selection process at any time prior to Contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the Vendors.
3. Eligibility of Association of Vendors and Sub-Vendors
3.1 If the Vendor had formed an association of Vendors, each member of the association of Vendors shall be evaluated as per the qualification/ eligibility criteria set forth in Part II of the data Sheet. The combined score of each member of the association of Vendors shall be taken into account for evaluation purpose.
3.2 A Vendor may associate with Vendors and/or individual expert (s) at the time of submission of proposal. Under such circumstances each member of the association of Vendors shall be evaluated as per the qualification/eligibility criteria set forth in Part II data Sheet. The combined score of each member of the association of Vendors shall be taken into account for evaluation purpose. However, the employer shall deal with only the lead member of the association of the Vendor for the purpose of this assignment. Although the contract shall be signed by all the members of the associations of the Vendors, the lead member of the association of the Vendor shall be responsible and liable to the Employer for every aspects of their proposal, contract etc.
4. Clarification and Amendment of RFP Documents
4.1 Vendors may request a clarification on any clause of the RFP documents up to the number of days indicated in the Part II Data Sheet before the proposal submission date. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic means to the Employer’s address indicated in the Part II Data Sheet. The Employer will respond in writing, or by standard electronic means and will send written copies of the response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) to all Vendors. Should the Employer deem it necessary to amend the RFP as a result of a clarification, it shall do so following the procedure under para 4.2 below.
4.2 At any time before the submission of proposals, the Employer may amend the RFP by issuing an addendum in writing or by standard electronic means. The addendum shall be sent to all Vendors and will be binding on them. Vendors shall acknowledge receipt of all amendments. To give Vendors reasonable time in which to take an amendment into account in their proposals the Employer may, if the amendment is substantial, extend the deadline for the submission of proposal.
5. Conflict of Interest
5.1 Employer requires that Vendors provide professional, objective, and impartial advice and at all times hold the Employer’s interests paramount, strictly avoid conflicts with other Assignment/jobs or their own corporate interests and act without any consideration for future work.
5.2 Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, Vendors, and any of their affiliates, shall be considered to have a conflict of interest and shall not be recruited, under any of the circumstances set forth below:
Conflicting activities: (i) A firm that has been engaged by the Employer to provide goods, works or Assignment/job other than consulting Assignment/job for a project, and any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from providing consulting Assignment/job related to those goods, works or Assignment/job. Conversely, a firm hired to provide consulting Assignment/job for the preparation or implementation of a project, and any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from subsequently providing goods or works or Assignment/job other than consulting Assignment/job resulting from or directly related to the firm’s consulting Assignment/job for such preparation or implementation. For the purpose of this paragraph, Assignment/job other than consulting Assignment/job are defined as those leading to a measurable physical output, for example surveys, exploratory drilling, aerial photography, and satellite imagery.
Conflicting Assignment/job; (ii) A Vendor (including its Personnel and Sub-
Vendors) or any of its affiliates shall not be hired for any Assignment/job that, by its nature, may be in conflict with another Assignment/job of the Vendor to be executed for the same or for another Employer. For example, a Vendor hired to prepare engineering design for an infrastructure project shall not be engaged to prepare an independent environmental assessment for the same project, and a Vendor assisting a Employer in the privatization of public assets shall not purchase, nor advise purchasers of such assets.
Conflicting relationships (iii) A Vendor (including its Personnel and Sub-Vendors) that has a business or family relationship with a member of the Employer’s staff who is directly or indirectly involved in any part of
(i) the preparation of the Terms of Reference of the Assignment/job,
(ii) the selection process for such Assignment/job, or
(iii) supervision of the Contract, may not be awarded a Contract, unless the conflict stemming from this relationship has been resolved in a manner acceptable to the Employer throughout the selection process and the execution of the Contract.
5.3 Vendors have an obligation to disclose any situation of actual or potential conflict that impacts their capacity to serve the best interest of their Employer, or that may reasonably be perceived as having this effect. Any such disclosure shall be made as per the forms of technical proposal provided herewith. If the Vendor fails to disclose said situations and if the Employer comes to know about any such situation at any time, it may lead to the disqualification of the Vendor during bidding process or the termination of its Contract during execution of assignment.
5.4 No agency or current employees of the Employer shall work as Vendors under their own ministries, departments or agencies.
6. Unfair Advantage
6.1 If a Vendor could derive a competitive advantage from having provided consulting Assignment/job related to the Assignment/job in question and which is not defined as conflict of interest as per para 5 above, the Employer shall make available to all Vendors together with this RFP all information that would in that respect give such Vendor any competitive advantage over competing Vendors.
7. Proposal Validity
7.1 The Part II Data Sheet to Vendor indicates how long Vendors’ Proposals must remain valid after the submission date. During this period, Vendors shall maintain the availability of Professional staff nominated in the Proposal and also the financial proposal unchanged. The Employer will make its best effort to complete negotiations within this period. Should the need arise; however, the Employer may request Vendors to extend the validity period of their proposals. Vendors who agree to such extension shall confirm that they maintain the availability of the Professional staff nominated in the Proposal and their financial proposal remain unchanged, or in their confirmation of extension of validity of the Proposal, Vendors could submit new staff in replacement, which would be considered in the final evaluation for contract award. Vendors who do not agree have the right to refuse to extend the validity of their Proposals; under such circumstance the Employer shall not consider such proposal for further evaluation.
8. Preparation of Proposals
8.1 The Proposal as well as all related correspondence exchanged by the Vendors and the Employer shall be written in English language, unless specified otherwise.
8.2 In preparing their Proposal, Vendors are expected to examine in detail the documents comprising the RFP. Material deficiencies in providing the information requested may result in rejection of a Proposal.
8.3 While preparing the Technical Proposal, Vendors must give particular attention to the following:
(a) If a Vendor considers that it may enhance its expertise for the Assignment/job by associating with other Vendors in sub-consultancy, it may associate with such Vendor.
(b) The estimated number of Professional staff-days for the Assignment/job is as shown in the Part II Data sheet. However, the Proposal shall be based on the number of Professional staff-days or budget estimated by the Vendors. While making the proposal, the Vendor must ensure that he proposes the minimum number and type of experts as sought by the Employer, failing which the proposal shall be considered as non-responsive. If professional fees are quoted in terms of person months, then daily fee rate for inputs that are a fraction of a month will be calculated by dividing the monthly rate by 30 for arriving at a daily rate for each calendar day. Remuneration will be payable for intervening Government of Madhya Pradesh Holidays and weekends, except for the weekend that falls at the end of a particular input time. The day of arrival and departure will be considered as working days provided the time of arrival is in the AM and the time of departure is in the PM..
(c) Alternative professional staff shall not be proposed, and only one curriculum vita (CV) may be submitted for each position mentioned.